my strange April

Life is so weird. While I've been up & down, lately. [pretty "standard fair" for April] I've been able to go to the Infused Arts stuff at LWCC. Pretty much all month. I actually wrote about 5 haiku poems tonight. I went through my usual: "Wow, I really don't do this well at all." first.
As we were sharing our poems with each other. I heard something from one of the gals there I never thought I'd hear. A woman named Beth said: "Hup, nickel in the 'jar'. [puts her finger on the center of the table] We don't say we're stupid here." 
In a way you feel like your back in grade school. Yet, why DO we tolerate calling ourselves stupid, anyway? I mean, like that'll make you do better..... at anything. Wrong, thank you for playing. What's actually worse is, I wouldn't tolerate anyone I know saying that about themselves. So why do I give myself permission? Yeah, guess what needs "voted off the island"? Ah huh. I thought you'd see it my way.

So I'm working on writing a post for another blog. Welcome to the latest edition of: "sentences I never thought I'd type, with your host..." I've been invited to write one. It doesn't mean I'll actually get posted there. So I'll link to it if it actually happens. Which will be the latest "wow, this is weird/ surreal".
What's more, I'm going to try to squeak out some money to have 1 or 2 of my pictures framed so they can hang in a gallery. Me. Artist. ....who knew? [not me, THAT'S for sure] So welcome to my "it doesn't feel real" life.
Welcome to the strangest April I think I've ever had.
Maybe it WILL snow on my birthday....
[yeah... don't hold your breathe]

Haiku

[the rules as a haiku]
five, is it's beginning
seven, is what comes after
concluding with five

as he drew his sword
like he did, in days of old
his nemesis, bold



May His grace drip from your fingers,
B

Ode to a Thorn

ok, so I posted this poem on facebook first. I'll say some similar things here that I said there.
First, I wrote this last night. During the 10 year celebration of TWLOHA. You can watch it on live stream here. It's about 2 hours long. My poem is inspired by Sierra DeMulder & Tonya Ingram & their spoken word poems [probably why I think mine would sound better spoken, than read]. I began to write a poem, didn't like it. I started over. The following is what came next. After I wrote it, the title became obvious. Though as I got more than half way done, I realized it has a bit of a similarity to the Apostle Paul. Who wrote of having a "thorn". While never naming what the "thorn" was. I'm glad he never named it. That way, we can each put our struggle in there as the word or words that replace the word "thorn". So this is a poem about thorns. I hope you get the point. Without getting stuck by it. [couldn't help it] So, here is my "ode to a thorn"....

"this"

when your tired

of "this"

whatever your

"this"

is

that part

of you

of your story

that you want to

rewrite

or

just hit "delete"

-or maybe "undo"

yet you know

you can't

it's there

unblinking

staring at you

you look at

"this"

you think

you just say to yourself:

I am "this"

nothing but "this"

"this" is all there is

to who I am

"this"

is all I am

just wait

it's not true

you

are more

than "this"

your story

is way more

than just

"this"

"this" is a chapter

in your story

not the story

not the plot

certainly not

the theme

"this"

isn't you

or who you are

so please

don't live &

die like

"this"

is all you are

were

ever will be

we don't believe

that

why

should you?
why

should

YOU?

DON'T

not for one second

YOU

are way more

than "this"

"this"

WAS.....

it does not

need to be

part of the present

or the future

not YOUR future

not my future

not anyone's

future

so grab

a shovel

let's

bury

"this"

IT'S journey

ends here

tonight

the ONLY thing

"this"

is good for

now

is to share

what

"this"

was in your life

why?

you ask

so everyone knows

you
are not alone

in "this"

you

are not the only one

dealing with

"this"

to tell

or remind

each of us

that we all

have

a "this"

by b.e. noll

p.s. I reserve the right to add to or subtract from this version of this [or I may not be finished with it yet]
p.p.s. TWLOHA, thanks for all you do. So glad & honered I got to meet Jamie, Renee, Chad, & Jessica.
Thankful for Jessica giving us a tour. When I flipped the calendar to April I heard her asking to see the calendar making sure the birthday sticker was in there.

May His grace drip from your fingers,
B